The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-03-09
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "David Acting the Fool

Subject: "David Acting the Fool. v
MOTE: There was another large addition
TO the church yesterday, making 64I new
members received during the present revival,
so that the communicate membership of the
Brooklyn Tabernacle is now 4,OOI.]
TEXT: "And he changed his behavior be-
fore them, and feigned himself mad IN their
hands, and scrdbbted on the doors of the
gate, and let his spittle fail docn upon his
beard" l Sam. xxi, Is.
There is one scene in the life of David that
you may not have pondered. You have seen
him with harp playing the devil out of Saul;
with sling, smashing the skull of Goiah;
with a sword, hacking to pieces the PhlllS-
tines; with sceptre, ruling vast realm
with psalm, gathering all nations into dox-
ology; but in my text, you have David play
ing the fool. He has been anointed King,
the Gathites. They begin to suspect who he is,
and say: II wonder if this is not the warrior,
King David3 1t looks like him. Is not this the
man about whom they used to make poetry,
and about whom they composed a dance,
90 that the maidens of the city. reeling now
on one foot and now on the other, used to
sing: Saul has slain his thousands but
David has slain his tens of thousands Yes,
it is very much like David. 1t must he
David. It is David" David, to escape their
hands, pretends to be demented. He said
within himself: IF I act crafty then Of
course these people will not injure me. No
one would be so much of coward as to as
Gathites are watching David with increased
suspicion, they see him standing by the door
running his hands meaninglessly up and down
the panels-scrabbling on the door as though
he would climb up, his mouth wide open,
drooling like an infant. 1 suppose
the boys of the streets threw missiles
at him; but the sober people of the town
he has lost his reason Do not touch this
mailman. Hands off! hands off," So David
escaped; but what an exhibition he made OF
himself beforeall the ages! There was maJes-
ty in King .Lears madness after Regan and
Goneril, his daughters, had persuaded him to
Danish their sister Cordoba, ana an cne
friends of the drama have been thrilled with
that spectacular. The craziness Of Meg Mer-
rifles was weird and imposing, and the most
telling passage in Walter SCOTS "Guy Man.
nering." There was fascination about the
insanity of Alexander Cruden, who made the
best concordance of the Bible that the world
ever saw-made it between the madhouses.
Some time ago, while was visiting the In
sane asylum on BlackwellS Island, a demented
woman came up to me and said, In most
tragic style:
'tGod moves In a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm"
But there was nothing grand, nothing
weird, nothing majestic, nothing sublime
about this stimulation on the part of David.
Instead of trusting in the Lord, as ne had on
other occasions, he gathers before him vast
audience of all generations that were to come,
and standing on that conspicuous stageIof his
tory. in the presence of all the ages, he i'm
perSonates tho slayering idiot! "And he
changed his behavior before them, and feigned
himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled at
the door of the gate, and let his Spittle fall
upon his beard"
Taking the behavior of David as sugges-
ton, wish to tell you how many of the wise,
and the brave, and the regal sometimes play
the fool And in the first place. I remark, that
those men as badly play the fool as this man
of the text, who in any crisis of life take their
case out Of the hand Of God. David, in this
case, acted as though there were no God to
contrast between his behavior, when this
brave little man stood up in front Of the giant
ten feet in height, and looking into his face.
said: "Thou comest to Inc with a sword, and
with a spear, and with a shield; but 1
come to thee in the name of the
Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies
Of Israel. whom. thou hast defed. This day
will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand and
I will smite thee, and take thine head from
thee, and will give the carcasSes Of the hosts
of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of
the air. and to the wild beasts Of the earth,
that all the earth may know that there is
God in Israel"-between tt at time and this
time, when he debased himself, and bedrag-
gled his manhood and affected insanity In
49, I, l,& fho of
the GathiteS. In the one case he played the
hero. In the other case he played the fool. So
does every man who in the great crises OF life,
takes his case out Of the hand Of God. The
life Of the most insignificant man in this
house is too vast for any human manage
ment. One time, returning from the West,
very easily got on the locomotive while pass
ing over the plains and talked with the en-
gineer: but coming on toward the Allegheny
Mountains, I thought would like to sit on
the locomotive as it came down from the
mountains amidst that most wonderful
scenery on this continent. I asked the en-
gineer If might ride, but he courteouSly de-
MED me, for there the grade is so steep, and
so winding, and so perilouS that he must not
have any one on the locomotive who may
divert his attention when eye, and hand, and
foot and brain must be concentrcd, ready for
the most sudden emergency. Well, my friends,
life is so steep. and so perilous, aud so exposed
to sudden surprises, that none but the Lord
Almighty can guide and engineer it, and our
disasters come from the fact that we want to
get up and help the Lord to manage the train.
Keep off the enginel Be willing to let God
pull you where He wants to pull you. You
have no right for an instant to surrender your
sanity and manhood as David surrendered his.
Put Your trust in God, and He will take you
through and over the mountains. l very much
suspect that all the successful enterprises
that were ever carried on, and all the success
full lives that haze ever been lived have been
fully surrendered to God. When the girl
Victoria was awakened in the night, and told
that the throne of Great Britain was hers
she said to the Plelate informing her: Il ask
YOUR prayers and then and there they knelt
down AMI prayed. Do you wonder that
though since that time all the thrones of Eu-
ropc have fallen or been fearfully shaken,
hers stands as firm as the day she assembled
it; and in every country under the
sun, wherever an 'EngliShman hears
that name pronounced, he feels like waving
mis- hat and crying: God save the Queen:
That man and that woman. who put their
trust in God. will 60 through in triumph;
while those who attempt to gather under their
own supervision the intricate and elaborate
affairs of their life are miserably playing the
fool. stood on the beach, looking Oft upon
the sea- and there was q strong wind blowing
and noticed that some Of the vessels were go
ing that way, and other vessels were going
another. said to myself: "How is it thai
the wind sends one vessel in one direction ant
another vessel in another direction" fount
out by looking, that it was the different way
they had the slils set. And so does trouble
come on this world. Some men it drives int
the harbor Of heaven and other men it dr1 ve